Coking retort oven



Oct. 1, 1935. J BECKER 2,015,657

COKING RETORT OVEN Filed Jan. 19, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 11v VENTOR. vbJb 5e cker:

Oct. 1, 1935. J. BECKER GOKING RETORT OVEN s Shee ts-Sheet 2 Filed Jan.19, 1932 xxxxryxmw IN VEIVTOR. k/QSQOA zfiecker BY Q fl A RN Oct. 1, 1935. J. BECKER GOKING RETORT OVEN Filed Jan. 19, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR. vbse ob Becks/7' Patented Oct. 1, 1935 UNITED STATES coxmGnn'ron'r ovnn Joseph Becker, om Township, Allegheny County, Pa...assignor to The Koppel-s Company of Delaware, a corporation of DelawareApplication Januarydii, 1932, Serial No. 582,541

1 Claim. (c1. 202-142) My invention relates to coking retort ovens andparticularly to heating systems therefor.

The subject-matter of thepresent application is closely related to thatof my Patent 'No.

-5 1,374,546, upon which the present invention isan improvement.

In the structure of my prior patent, I provide crossover flues whichextend over an oven cham-.

her for connecting the horizontal flues of the l heating walls adjacentto the oven chamber in order to connect the heating systems of thesewalls for operation in series with each other. All of the heating wallsof the battery are similarly connected in pairs.

In each of the heating wallsof the structure covered by my prior patent,the gases of combustion pass upwardly from the flame flues in whichcombustion occurs, through ports or ducts into a horizontal flue withinwhich they flow horizon- 20 tally to one of the crossover flues fordistribution through a similar system in an adjacent wall.

The tops of the flame flues operate as baflles and the flames ofcombustion are extinguished as the gases pass through the ducts into the25 horizontal flues. Accordingly, the temperature of the gases above thetop of the flame flues is not sufliciently high to be useful in cokingand the tops of the flame flues constitute the upper limit of the usefulheating surface for the adjacent oven chamber.

" In accordance with the present invention, I am enabled to eliminatethe horizontal flues above the flame flues in each of the heating walls.The flame flues are extended upwardly 35 to occupy the space formerlyrequired by the horizontal flues and their connections to the limeflues.

The result is to materially increase the heating surface of the flameflues of each heating wall. The structure of the heating walls isgreatly simplified since the relatively simple arrangement of the flameflues'is substituted for the arrangement of the horizontal flues and theducts for connecting them to the flame flues.

45 Also, the elimination of these ducts and the resulting reduction inthe number of changes in direction of the gases facilitates-their flowby reducing the resistance to such flow. The drop in pressure of thegases through these portions 59 of the heating system is reduced by theelimination of the resistance to their flow.

The coke-oven battery embodying my invention comprises other features ofconstruction and arrangement which will be described in connec- 55 tionwith the accompanying drawings, in which located in galleries or tunnels24 beneath th Figure 1 is a view in transverse vertical section of a,coke-oven battery constructed in accord-. ance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in vertical longitudinal section of a portionof the battery of Fig. 1;

3 is an. enlarged vertical sectional view of a portion of the heatingwall shown in Fig. 1;

and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of a coke-oven'batteryin which horizontal dlsl0 -tributing ductsfor rich gas are employed.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3', a coke-oven battery Icomprises any suitable num-- ber of horizontal oven chambers 2 andheating walls 3 therefor that alternate therewith. The battery isprovided with a; roof or top 4, through which extends the usual chargingholes 5, three of which are shown by way of example.

Each oven chamber is also provided with a gas oiftake opening 6 at eachend thereof. An

ascension pipe I connects each gas offtake opening 6 to a collectingmain 8 one of which extends along each side of the battery.

Horizontal brickwork l0, which. extends be-' neath the oven chambers 2and heating walls 3, separates the latter from the regenerator structuretherebeneath. The regenerators consist of two rows of crosswiseregenerators H, each of which extends half the width of the battery. Thebattery structure is supported upon a foundation comprising a pad I2,pillars l3 and a base H, which may be of concrete. This arrangementprovides passageways for convenient access to the bottom portion of thebattery structure.

Each regenerator H is provided with a sole flue l5, to which isconnected a reversing box It. Producer gas is supplied to the batteryfrom a main H on each side of the battery. The mains I! are connectedthrough valves "to the revers ing boxes l6 that supply fuel gas when thecor- 40 responding regenerators operate as inflow regenerators When'richgas, such as coke-oven gas, is used as fuel, it is supplied from a .mainI! that is connected to a header 2!! for each of the heating walls 3.Each of the headers'is, in turn, connected by means of vertical ducts2|, which extend throughthe walls of the regenerators H for supplyinggas to the heating wall. This system of supplying rich gas is known as"the underburner system since the various headers and the controllingvalves 22 therefor, as well as the adjustingvalves 23 for the verticalducts, are all e battery structure.

extends through the bottle-bricks oi the wall to permit communicationbetween adjacent flame flues 26.

As best shown in Fig. 3, the top edges of the short walls are roundedwhile the edges beneath the openings 28 are tapered in order tofacilitate the changes in direction of the flow of gases. The row ofopenings 28 and the top portions of the flame flues constitute in eiiecta horizontal flue since horizontal flow oi gases may occur along thetops of the heating wall.

At intervals along the length of the oven and preferably so distributedas to divide the flame flues into groups of approximately four flameflues each, are a series of crossover flues 26 that extend from thehorizontal space along the top oi one heating wall across theintervening oven chamber 2 to the similar horizontal space of theadjacent heating wall. It will be noted that the ends of the crossoverflues 219 are substantially in alinement with the short partition walls21 in order to equalize the flow of gases through the group of flues inseries with the crossover flue.

While the space along the top of the heating wall that connects theseveral flame flues to each other and to the crossover flues 29 issubstantially continuous, the omission of certain oi the openings 26would serve to divide the flame flues into groups communicating with thecrossover flues 29 connected to that group. However, the presentarrangement provides that, in case of diflerences in pressure inadjacent groups, such dlfierences may be equalized by means of thetransfer of gases along the horizontal space which also connectsadjacent crossover flues.

In the operation of the battery, it may be assumed that producer gas isbeing supplied from the mains I! through the corresponding reversingboxes l6 and that air is being supplied to certain of the regeneratorsthrough similar boxes l6. Air and gas then flow through the inflowregenerators and through inclined ducts 36 and ports ii for combustionin one heating wall of each connected pair. The gases burn upwardly inthe flame flues and the resulting gases of combustion, when they reachthe top of the latter, flow either to the right or to the left, as thecase may be, through the openings 28 to the most nearly adjacentcrossover flue 29.

The gases of combustion flow through the several crossover flues and arethen distributed through the several openings 28 into the flame flues 26of the co-operating heating wall, in which they flow downwardly and outthrough inclined ducts 30 into outflow regenerators l I. They then passthrough the corresponding reversing boxes l6 and vertical ducts 33 intowaste gas mains 34 that are connected to the usual stack (not shown). 1

Each of the crossover flues 29 is provided with sliding bricks 35 forregulating the flow of waste gases therethrough. The distribution andrelative flow of gases through the various parts of the system may becontrolled by these regulating bricks. Each flame flue 26 is providedwith an inspection opening 36 extending through the root 4 and eachinspection opening is provided with a cover brick 31.

The arrangement 01' the regenerators for trans- 5 mitting air and gasand waste gases-when the direction oi. flow within the several heatingwalls is as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2 is shown by the respectivelegends A, G and WG in full lines designating the respectiveregenerators. It 1 will be noted that the regenerators are divided intogroups of three, the central regenerator of each group being larger thanthe other two.

When a group operates as inflow regenerators, the central or largeregenerator supplies producer 15 gas to two heating walls while each ofthe smaller or outer members of the group supplies air to one of the twoheating walls. When a group operates as outflow regenerators, all of themembers of the group carry waste gas.

This arrangement provides that an air'regenerator is always betweenregenerators carrying fuel gas and waste gases. Counterflow betweenthese gases is thus prevented. Also, this arrange ment of regeneratorsin groups provides that no 26 pillar wall is necessary under alternateoven chambers and additional regenerator space is thus provided..

The direction of flowoi' gasesthrough the battery is periodicallyreversed at the end oi'perlods 30 of substantially a half hour. When thedirection of flow is opposite to that of the arrowsshown in Fig. 2, theregenerators operate to carry air, gas or waste gases in accordance withthe arrangement shown by the legends in dotted lines in Fig. 35.

2; It will be noted that the same relation of air regenerators withrespect to gas regenerators and waste-gas regenerators obtains that wasdescribed in connection with the operation of the gases in the otherdirection.

When rich gas or coke-oven gas is employed as fuel, the connections tothe producer gas mains are closed and all of the inflow regeneratorsduring any reversal period, operate as air regenerators and all of theoutflow regenerators carry 5 waste gases, as in the previous operation.Cokeoven gas is supplied to all of the flame flues oi the walls in whichcombustion occurs by means of the headers i1 and the vertical ducts 2|that extend directly into the flame flues 26. It will be noted that nonozzles are required for regulating the flow oi. gas, such regulationbeing accomplished by the valves 23 beneath the battery.

Reference may now be had to Fig. 4, in which is illustrated modifiedapparatus for supplying rich gas for heating the oven. The additionalstructure comprises a rich gas main 6!, extending along the side of thebattery, and that is connected by means of valves Mi and gas guns ll tohorizontal ducts 42 that extend through the horizontal brickwork l6beneath each of the heating walls. Short vertical ducts 43 comprisingthe usual nozzles (not shown) connect the horizontal duct 42 to each ofthe flame flues 26.

When rich gas is employed in the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 4, thearrangement of the regenerators and the operation of the heating systemis otherwise as described in connection with the supplying of rich gasthrough the underburner system of Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

The construction 01' coke-oven batteries in accordance with my inventionis materially more simple than that in which it has been necessary toprovide separate horizontal flues for each heating wall and to provideducts for connecting each 76 flame flue to a horizontal. The area ofuseful heating surface has been increased by extending the flame fluesto include the space formerly occupied by such ducts and horizontalflues.

Since the path of travel for the gases of combustion offers considerablyless resistance to the flow of gases through the battery, the drop inpressure has been correspondingly diminished and the efliciency of theoperation of theheating system has thus been improved.

By means of the provision of sliding bricks in the several crossoverflues, regulation or adjustment between the groups of flame flues of anypair of heating walls is readily effected. Since the crossover flues areconnected at each end through the tops of the flame flues, differencesin pressure may be equalized by the division of the gases between thecrossover flues and the distribution of the gases in the adjacentheating wall.

The provision of means beneath the battery for supplying rich gasenables the latter to be regulated at points accessible to the operatorsand the use of nozzles or sliding bricks for the individual flues isunnecessary. Also, the elimination of one-half of the pillar walls hasmaterially increased the amount of regenerator space that is available.

The foregoing and other advantages will be apparent to those skilled inthe art of construction and operation of coke-oven batteries.

I claim as my invention:

A horizontal coke oven comprising a horizontal coking chamber andcombustion heating means therefor comprising two heating walls onopposite sides of the oven chamber, each of said heating walls having aseries of vertical flame flues therein arranged in a row parallel withthe oven chamber with partition walls between said flame flues and thetops oi the partition walls and the top of the heating wall providingbetween them a horizontal gas flow space along the top of the heatingwall and communicably connecting the upper parts of the flame flues inthe heating walls, a. plurality of crossover flues extending over saidoven chamber and communicating with the horizontal gas flow space at theupper parts of the flame flues in each heating wall to communicablyconnect the flame flues of said heating walls in series, said crossoverflues being spaced from each other so that each of them is cormnunicablyconnected at each end thereof with vertical flame flues on oppositesides thereof along the heating walls and so that each of the crossoverflues may be required to accommodate gas flow to and from substantiallyonly a part of the vertical flues that communicate with the horizontalgas flow space between each two crossover flues, the effectivecross-sectional area. of the aforesaid horizontal gas flow space beingsubstantially less than the eflective cross-sectional area of thevertical flame flues, for accelerating velocity of gas flow laterallyover the flame flues to the crossover flues, and. the vertical flameflues being free from gas throttling constrictions, where theycommunicate with the horizontal gas flow space, that would cause anincrease in pressure to enable the gas to flow through suchconstrictions out of the flues into the horizontal gas flow space andinto the flues from the horizontal gas flow space, and said verticalflame flues communicating at their upper parts with the crossoverssolely through the horizontal gas flow space and non-regulable connec-

